Air Temple Island
by b0ardguy555
Summary: Katara is visiting Republic city to see about the construction of Air temple Island for Aang but finds herself infuriated with the state of the crime in republic city. Sokka and Toph talk about the idea of airships for crimefighting.


Katara was looking out over cool azure waters Yue Bay from the vantage point of the top of the famous Harmony Tower. She spotted the scaffolds denoting the construction of the large building that would soon adorn one of the two small islands floating in the middle of the calm blue bay. Katara swelled with pride as she recognized it as the beginnings of her and Aang's new home, a place for them to raise their children, once they had them, and for Aang to try his best to restore the Air nomads. It was meant to be a surprise present for Aang when he returned from a trip to the Earth Kingdom to oversee negotiations concerning the last remnants of the hundred year war. Her idea was to cover her plans by disguising the trip as a vacation to go and see how Toph and Sokka were doing.

It was funny to Katara that several of the Air Acolytes that Aang had met in Yu Dao so many years before had already caught wind her plans before. Naturally the first thing the acolytes did after hearing the news was ask if they could stay there too, of course that was Katara's plan all along, to give Aang an environment to try and rebuild the Air Nomad culture even if its benders may never return to their full strength. Trying to get permission to build on the island had been difficult but luckily Sokka had been able to pull some strings with the council to get the land and permissions all sorted out. Ever since the war ended and they grew a little older Sokka had been more inclined to the political side of events involving himself with the United Republic Council and the Police to try and help give the fledgling nation a chance to succeed. It was surprising how normal their lives were after that insane year. Even after the war ended there were still adventures like finding Zuko's Mom and that whole business with Yu Dao and even that affair with Toph's parents.

A loud crash shook Katara out of her contemplation and she quickly looked around to find the source of the noise and saw the flashes of fire among the streets below. She quickly called the elevator and tried to formulate a plan while the motor slowly pulled the car up to the observation deck. She needed to find out if anybody was injured and help them first but then what, the police were probably on their way and she knew that Toph hated it when anybody got in her or the police force's way. The elevator finally arrived and she found herself wishing the elevator to fall faster, if somebody were injured then she needed to be there. The elevator finally opened at the ground level and Katara sprinted through the throngs of people trying to get in to the monument. She arrived to find the two people lying on the ground injured and three others running down the alley.

She quickly noted that there were two men and a woman each wearing a different color, red, green, and blue. She turned back to the two injured and began to treat their wounds with her waterbending. She was very glad that she hadn't stopped carrying bending water with her. The first was a woman with burns on her arms and cuts across her chest that indicated fire and water bending the second had broken bones and bruising consistent with being hit with something like a big rock. Katara was infuriated with the mere idea that somebody would do this to another for no reason. With the fire nation Katara could understand that they were evil due to the fire lord and that he needed to be defeated, but with petty crime like this Katara just couldn't comprehend that individuals living in a peaceful society would just go out and hurt others. Katara hadn't been in the city three days but she wanted to tear it apart to find those three. After she saw that the wounds of the victims healed and the police arrived, Katara decided to go and have a talk with Sokka to try and glean anything she could about the state of crime in the city.

Katara wandered through the streets occasionally checking the map Sokka had made for her when she arrived to find her way back to his home in the city. After getting lost and even more frustrated twice Katara finally found herself at the apartment Sokka shared with Suki and made a mental note to get a new map, from Suki this time.

"Katara, how was your trip to the Harmony Tower?" Suki asked with a smile fading off of her face as she noticed the grim expression on Katara's face.

"The tower was great, but I heard somebody get injured by a group of muggers and didn't get there in time to catch them. All I could do was heal the injuries of the victims." Katara angrily replied.

"Oh that's horrible, where were the police?" Suki asked as Katara walked in.

"The hadn't arrived yet, but that made me wonder how often that happens, how often are the police not there to help?" Katara asked anger slowly cooling to sadness.

"I don't know but when Sokka gets back you can talk to him and Toph about it seeing as we're going to meet for dinner at this awesome restaurant called Kwong's Cuisine" Suki remarked trying to console Katara.

Katara decided that would be best and retired to the guest room to think.

Sokka had a hard time at the council today seeing as his fellow councilmen refused to be helpful on finding a solution to the crime wave that was sweeping the city. He was fairly certain that some of the others on the council were being paid off, but an accusation like that could get him killed and give someone less reputable the chair. To make things worse Katara was in town and as much as he loved his sister having her around wasn't really stress free. Nevertheless he walked the winding streets and thought about the day's deliberations. Toph had originly addressed the council as the chief of police requesting more funding to field more officers to improve response time but of course when asked how she would pay for these additional officers she was shot down since Urzen, the fire nation representative, was completely against any raise in taxes citing that citing that a higher tax rate would kill the sales of fire nation goods in the city. Unfortunately Bein the Earth Kingdom representative fought Toph's motion for the same reason leaving Tarrik, the Northern representative to oppose simply because he didn't think the problem was important enough to address. Gyatso the Air acolyte on the council was the only one to agree with him and vote for the increase in funding. Toph said that she had another idea she would mention at dinner tonight but he doubted that that would change anything. Nothing short of a miracle would help change those greedy councilmen's minds.

Sokka was snapped out of his train of thought as he realized he had arrived home and opened the door to find his lovely wife and sister talking in the main room.

"So that- Honey your home!" Suki exclaimed hearing the sound of the door and his footsteps into the home.

"Yeah I am, so how was the Harmony Tower Katara?" Sokka asked after a warm embrace from Suki.

"It was fine but theres something I want to talk to you about over dinner" Katara answered.

"Sure, our reservations are soon so we should get going if we want to meet Toph there" He replied.

As they arrived after the long earth bending tram ride they found that Toph had beaten them to the restaurant and was already seated in the high class restaurant leaning back precariously in a fragile looking wooden chair. The restaurant was a beautiful with ornate paintings and statues scattered around the quiet restaurant. The dim yellow glow from the lamps hanging above their table shown on the gray metal police uniform Toph was wearing.

"Hey Sokka, Hey Suki, Hey Katara" Toph greeted as the group approached.

"Hey Toph nice to see you again" Katara said after seeing her old friend.

"I would say 'you too' but…" Toph remarked with a chuckle as the three took their seats.

Katara noticed that another place was set at the table and asked "Who else is eating with us"

"Oh that's for Teo, remember him, he's part of that idea I was telling you about Sokka" Toph replied.

"Well before we talk about that I want to eat!" Sokka exclaimed as Teo rolled up to his place in a wheelchair.

"Hey Teo I haven't seen you since the end of the war." Katara exclaimed incredulously.

"Katara, I had no idea you'd be here it's nice to see you again, where's Aang?" Teo asked visibly excited.

"He's not here, avatar stuff" Katara remarked as their meals were delivered by the waiter.

"Oh that's a shame he would love this idea." Teo Explained as Sokka ate voraciously.

Sokka paused his feast and said "Hey less talkie more eatie" and resumed.

"Honey you're in public and people are staring" Suki whispered to Sokka as his appetite began to wane.

"Well what might you idea be Toph?" Sokka asked while eating in an extremely exaggerated respectable manner with a giggle from Suki and Katara.

"Well the main problem we've been having is that officers can't get to crime scenes fast enough right" Toph remarked.

"Right" Sokka agreed.

"Well it's not really my idea its more Teo's" Toph said "and as much as I don't like it, it would certainly help the rest of the force".

"That's where I come in" Teo interjected "I could build some airships similar to the fire nation war balloons to patrol the air while Toph's metal benders could use wires to get down safely and catch criminals".

"Well that would be great if it passed the council but Urzen Bein and Tarrik aren't going to pay for it" Sokka said with an audible sigh.

"The best part is that they don't have to Lao Gan-Lan has agreed to let me use his factories to construct my design" Teo said "Cabbage Corp has agreed to donate the raw materials to the city".

"That's the point of this meeting, to let you know that these don't cost anything so we can come to the council on a public day so they can't deny our proposal unless they want riots" Toph explained.

"Wow that's amazing Teo I can't believe that Lau Gan-Lan let you do that." Sokka exclaimed.

"Well I think he sees this as a new market for him and also great publicity. Not to mention that I have been his star inventor for years." Teo replied.

"It's funny" Katara interjected "Just earlier today I was furious after seeing a crime and now I see that you guys are still trying to make this city a better place".  
"Well duh" Toph retorted "What kind of Chief of Police would be able to rest while there was still danger on their streets".

The topic of conversation shifted to a lighter topic as Katara reflected on the day's events. Katara thought about how she had seen the crime from the top of the tower and was amazed that she hadn't thought of that. She was impressed with how Teo had come up with a solution to the problem that plagued republic city and was happy that the war balloons that the mechanist invented had found a good use. Katara was finally happy about her choosing Republic City as the home of the new temple, because even if there was crime she could count on Toph and Sokka to try their hardest to fight it.

AN: There is no canon source for the creation for the air temple on the island or for the construction of the statue to honor aang.


End file.
